Reuters Science News Summary

Reuters

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Mars probe heads for complex, self-guided descent to planetsurface

PASADENA, California (Reuters) - By the time the roboticMars laboratory dubbed Curiosity streaks into the thin Martianatmosphere at hypersonic speed on Sunday night, the spacecraftwill be in charge of its own seven-minute final approach to thesurface of the Red Planet. With a 14-minute delay in the timeit takes for radio waves from Earth to reach Mars 154 millionmiles (248 million km) away, NASA engineers will already havegiven Curiosity the last commands of its eight-month voyagethrough space.

Three firms share $1.1 billion of NASA space taxi work

PASADENA, California (Reuters) - PASADENA, Calif. Aug 3(Reuters) - NASA will pay more than $1 billion over the next 21months to three companies to develop commercial spaceshipscapable of flying astronauts to the International SpaceStation, the agency said Friday. The lion's share of the $1.1billion allotted for the next phase of NASA's so-calledÃ''Commercial Crew'' program will be split between Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies, a privately held firm runby Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk.

History littered with failed Mars probes

PASADENA, California (Reuters) - NASA's Mars ClimateOrbiter was about a week away from wrapping up an 11-monthjourney to the Red Planet in 1999 when engineers noticed aproblem - the spacecraft, designed to study Mars' environment,was not where it was supposed to be. The gap grew alarminglyover the next few days. On September 23, Climate Orbiter beganthe brake to enter Mars' orbit as planned, but disappearedbehind the planet 49 seconds early, severing radio contact withEarth. It was never heard from again.

India plans space mission to send a satellite to Mars

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India plans to send a satellite viaan unmanned spacecraft to orbit Mars next year, joining a smallgroup of nations already exploring the red planet, a governmentscientist said on Friday. A rocket will blast off from thesoutheastern coast of India, dropping the satellite into deepspace, which will then travel onto Mars to achieve orbit, thesenior scientist said, asking not to be named because theproject is awaiting final approval.

Study projects growing demand for commercial spaceflights

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Commercial suborbitalspaceflights should bring in between $600 million and $1.6billion in revenue in their first decade of operations,according to a study commissioned by the U.S. and Floridagovernments and released on Wednesday. Tourism drives about 80percent of the demand for suborbital flights, which reach about63 miles above the planet's surface before plunging backthrough the atmosphere.

Bat virus offers insight into deadly Nipah, Hendra

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A virus that is very similar to thedeadly Nipah and Hendra viruses has been discovered in fruitbats in Australia and researchers are hoping it can help themfind ways to fight those highly dangerous cousins. The Nipahvirus kills 40-75 percent of the people it infects while theHendra virus, which normally affects horses, kills more than 50percent of the people it infects.

Scientists skeptical as athletes get all taped up

LONDON (Reuters) - German beach volleyball player IlkaSemmler wears it on her buttocks - in pink. Swedish handballplayer Johanna Wiberg prefers it in blue from her knee to hergroin. British sprinter Dwain Chambers has even worn it with aUnion Jack design. Athletic tape made in every color under thesun seems to be the latest must-have sports injury treatment atLondon 2012, where athletes may have been influenced by otherbig name tape fans such as Serena Williams and David Beckham.

NASA rover closing in on Mars to hunt for life clues

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's Mars rover wason its final approach to the red planet on Sunday, headingtoward a mountain that may hold clues about whether life hasever existed on Mars, officials said. The rover, also known asCuriosity, has been careening toward Mars since its launch inNovember. The nuclear-powered rover the size of a compact caris expected to end its 352-million-mile (567-million-km)journey on August 6 at 1:31 a.m. EDT.

China aims to land probe on moon next year

BEIJING (Reuters) - China aims to land its first probe onthe moon in the second half of next year, state media reportedon Monday, the next step in an ambitious space progam whichincludes building a space station. In 2007, China launched itsfirst moon orbiter, the Chang'e One orbiter, named after alunar goddess, which took images of the surface and analyzedthe distribution of elements.

Russian unmanned spacecraft docks on second try

MOSCOW (Reuters) - An upgraded Russian unmanned spacecraftsuccessfully linked up with the International Space Station onSunday on its second attempt to test a new docking system,Russia's space agency said. The docking set aside doubts overthe new Kurs-NA rendezvous system that will deliver astronautsand future cargoes to the orbital station after a botched firsttest when the equipment malfunctioned due to low temperaturesearlier this week.